Lukashenko says his dream of having Russian Iskander systems in Belarus has come true

On Thursday 21 May, self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko visited a missile brigade of the Belarusian Armed Forces in the Asipovichy district, where he praised the Russian Iskander-M operational-tactical missile systems he said he had once "dreamed of".

Source: Belarusian state news agency BelTA; pro-government Telegram channel Pul Pervogo; Ministry of Defence of Belarus

Quote from Lukashenko: "I once dreamed of this vehicle [the Russian Iskander system – ed.]. But nowadays we have more than one. And you know better than I do that these are good weapons."

Details: Earlier, the Belarusian Defence Ministry announced that exercises involving units responsible for the combat use of nuclear weapons had begun in the country on 18 May in cooperation with Russian forces.

It later emerged that Russia had already delivered nuclear munitions to field storage sites in Belarus as part of the drills and released corresponding footage.

At the brigade command post, Lukashenko was briefed on "the procedure for actions during the preparation and execution of a nuclear strike (electronic launch)". He was shown an Iskander-M launcher and a simulated nuclear missile strike using an electronic launch.

"In other words, all actions were carried out exactly as they would be in a real combat situation. With one important nuance – there was no actual missile launch," the statement said.

Background:

• The Russian Defence Ministry stated that the exercises involve more than 64,000 service members, over 7,800 items of military equipment and weapons, including more than 200 missile launch systems, over 140 aircraft, 73 surface vessels and 13 submarines, 8 of which are strategic missile submarines.
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine described the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and the joint nuclear exercises of the two dictatorships as an unprecedented challenge to the global security architecture and called on international partners to respond firmly.
• Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO, warned that Russia would face devastating consequences if it dared to use nuclear capabilities against Ukraine during the joint exercises with Belarus.

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